Over The Top!

It all started when I heard that the circus was in town and that they would be unloading the animals from the train and walking them through the streets to the arena. A frugal father thought, take Zach to this "parade" and you can save $11 bucks a ticket to The Greatest Show on Earth" and you'll still be the Greatest Dad for a Day... perfect. Perfect plan that is.

The "parade" only suckered me into buying tickets. I talked up the fact that we would see circus animals all day. Then at 8:15 we leave for downtown. I thought we could park in my office's garage, and watch from the sky bridge that connects it to the SeaGate center; the animals would walk right under us.

I had delusions of what this all would be. I pictured tigers on leashes growling at the little kids, Elephants waiving their trunks, clowns running around, etc.... Well, we pulled in the garage, still no sign of the animals, but plenty of people. 3 minutes later, we were parked, and on the sky bridge. All we saw was big bus moving towards us down Jefferson, with nothing behind it. I thought that's strange, where are the elephants... so I turned the other way only to see the back side of some horses as they closed the gates! That was it. What kind of circus is this? How could that be it?

Zach was upset, crying in fact, and he wouldn't stop saying that he wanted to see the snails, (not sure why he thought snails were in the circus.) I tried to give him a glimpse through over the arena wall where the elephants were now in tents, it was too dark to really see them.

Needless to say, the ride home was full of disappointment on the part of a tired four year old. "They can't sleep in tents Daddy, we have to go back, they need to go back to the zoo to sleep. I'm sorry, Zach we can't see them tonight, they need to rest so they can do their tricks in the morning. Can we see them in the morning Dad?" AHHHHHHH

My moment of cheep glory was a complete bust. I broke down and bought tickets online that night, so much for saving a buck a looking like a hero to boot. Despite it all, I am so glad it worked out this way.

Zach and I had a great day, spending some one on one time. We had breakfast at the Spitzer Arcade where a number of judges and lawyers hang out over the lunch hour. Then we stopped in the office so Zach could meet some of the guys before going to the pre-show. HE LOVED IT ALL. It was our first circus, and we had a blast. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have the girls with us. Avery has been coughing a lot and spitting up almost everything she eats.

The new arena is beautiful, and the show was spectacular. Here are some pictures (taken on my phone so sorry for the poor quality).